Seifriz: Plants on Mt. Gedeh, Java 291 



delicate little filmy ferns, species of Hymenophyllum and 

 Trichomanes. The smallest of the hymenophyllums we shall 

 find at a higher altitude. 



Mosses exist, but are to be found in much greater abundance 

 in the second and fourth subzones. Species of liverworts are 

 not numerous, although fine patches of the large Dumortiera 

 hirsuta are frequent. 



Fungi (with conspicuous fruits) are seldom met with. This 

 is rather generally true of the tropics. A few species of the 

 woody and leathery forms of the Polyporaceae and an occasional 

 gill fungus are all that are superficially evident. Diligent search 

 does, however, reveal other and interesting species, often of 

 brilliant color. 



Of lichens the number of species is exceedingly great. I have 

 seen trunks of the great rasamala completely covered with en- 

 crusting lichens which give to the tree the appearance of an 

 elaborate mosaic. The Graphidae are especially attractive. 

 One feels that nature must have some story to tell in their 

 queer markings if one but knew the key. Indeed, they look 

 every bit as intelligible as the hieroglyphics of the Malay 

 language. Forty-seven species of lichens were collected from 

 the first subzone. The genera Graphis, Pertusaria, and Sticta 

 are especially well represented.* 



II. The Podocarpus Subzone 



(5.500-7,000 feet) 



At an altitude of about 5,500 feet there is a pronounced 

 change in the general appearance of the mountain forest. One 

 realizes immediately that the woods have assumed a different 

 dress. Everything is moss-covered (Plate 16, fig. 2). It is 

 surprising with what suddenness the transformation takes place, 

 and one wonders what differences in climatic factors can exist 

 which produce so marked and so sudden a change between the 

 region just left and that which lies beyond. So profuse is the 

 moss drapery that one is inclined to term this the moss zone. 

 Such a designation would, however, be inaccurate, as subsequent 

 investigation will show. 



* For a full account of the lichens and mosses collected in the Tjibodas 

 forest see, The altitudinal distribution of lichens and mosses on Mt. Gedeh, 

 Java, to be^published in The Ecologist, January, 1924. 



